Arbitrage [2012]

Want to see Richard Gere in a dynamite performance? Step up for “Arbitrage”, a thrillingly intense look at what goes down when people commit sins in the name of money. I know I know. You might have seen it all before, but first time director Nicholas Jarecki does wonders with his movie, focusing on what goes on in the head of a financial wheeler-dealer (Gere), when he decides to fuck everyone up, including his own family, because of some bad decisions he’s made. The man has just lost $400 million in a bad investment, and if he can’t cover it up, his career and money will go down the drain. Watch how Gere’s character commits fraud in order to deceive his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon, as good as always), his french mistress Julie (Laetitia Casta), and even his daughter (Brit Marling), who also happens to be his chief accountant. How worse can it get? Just wait and see. There’s enough plot here for two movies, yet “Arbitrage” never fails to keep us hooked and delivers a roller coaster ride from start to finish. Jarecki couldn’t ask for better actors to do the job. Gere, at 62 is simply terrific. His performance slams you like a body punch and then starts messing with your head. He is incendiary, notably in a climactic scene with the great Susan Sarandon, who is dynamite as a woman forced to look for signs of deceit in the man she married. “Arbitrage”, demanding as it is daring, is no easy ride. I mean that as high praise.